Home Church Lent 2 February 28, 2021 Rev. Karen Hollis

Home Church Lent 2 February 28, 2021 Rev. Karen Hollis

We acknowledge these lands upon which we worship are the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation.

Preparing the Space Around Us

Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here! Welcome if you are gathering on zoom or if you are worshipping at home with the bulletin. We are one community and all part of the body of Christ. I invite you to prepare the space around you

so that for the next hour you can be fully in this worship experience, not to keep out the realities of the world, rather to focus us in the midst of it all on God. If you need to go and get something or shift something around you, feel free. During this season of Lent we are exploring the theme: Living Faith.

Preparing the Space within Us

Let us prepare now the space within us for a time of worship. I invite

you to sit quietly, perhaps with feet on the floor, taking a couple of deep breaths and bring yourself into this moment. Open yourself to the presence of God who is with us and within us . . . as you intentionally open yourself to God, open yourself also to what you need from this time of worship.

Greeting
One:    The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,

            and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

All:      And also with you.   

Opening Prayer   J P Newell

Read the prayer slowly…

All things come from you, O God,

and to you we return.

All things emerge in your great river of life

and into you we vanish again.

At the beginning of this day

we wake

not as separate streams

but as countless currents in a single flow

the flow of this days’ dawning

the flow of this days’ delight

the flow of this day’s sorrows

your flow, O God,

in the twistings and turnings of this new day.

 

Hymn: Come, O Fount of Every Blessing  VU #559

1 Come, thou Fount of every blessing,

tune my heart to sing your grace;

streams of mercy, never ceasing,

call for songs of endless praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it

mount of God's unfailing love.

2 Here I pause in my sojourning;

giving thanks for having come;

come to trust at every turning,

God will guide me safely home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

wandering from the fold of God;

came to rescue me from danger,

precious presence, precious blood.

3 O, to grace how great a debtor

daily I am drawn anew!

Let thy grace now, like a fetter,

bind my wandering heart to you.

Prone to wander, I can I feel it,

wander from the love I’ve known:

here's my heart, O, take and seal it,

seal it for your very own.

 

Prayer of Confession   BAS

Let us bring our full selves before God most loving . . .

Most Merciful God,

We confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us, that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your name. Amen.

 

Silent prayer of confession

Assurance of Grace

God’s love and faithfulness endures generation after generation; as our journey of life continues, God’s love meets us where we are in the holy covenant God made so long ago.

Peace of Christ

This morning the bell choir helps us to remember Christ’s peace with us with the song Dona Nobis Pacem, which is translated “grant us peace.” After the song we will share with one another the peace of Christ.

 

Dona Nobis Pacem  CCG Hand Bell Choir

            One: The Peace of Christ be with you all!

            All:   And also with you!

 

First Reading: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 Mollie Ford

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous." Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."

 

Psalm 22:23-31   (Translation Voices United)  Susan Brockley

Give praise, all you who fear God!

Proclaim God’s greatness, all you children of Jacob;

       stand in awe, all you children of Israel!

For God has neither despised

nor scorned the poor in their distress.

       You, O God, have not hidden your face from them.

       You heard them when they called to you.

You are the theme of my praise in the great assembly.

       I will keep my promise in the presence of those who fear you.

 

Let the poor eat to satisfaction;

let those who seek you praise you.

       May they be in good heart forever!

Let all the ends of the earth remember and turn to you, O God.

Let all the families of the nations bow down before you.

       For yours is the dominion, O God,

       you rule over the nations.

Even all who sleep in the grave shall worship you;

those who go down into the dust shall bow before you.

       I too shall live for you.

Our children shall serve you,

and tell generations yet to come about you.

       To a people yet unborn,

       they shall make known the saving deeds you have done.

 

Gospel Reading      Susan Brockley

One:      God be with you.       

All:        And also with you

One:      The Good News of Jesus Christ according to Mark

All:        Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Mark 8:31-38

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

One: This is the Gospel of Christ;

All:   Praise be to Jesus Christ

Reflection: Living in God          

Silent Reflection

A New Creed

Let us affirm our faith . . .

We are not alone,

    we live in God’s world.

 We believe in God:

    who has created and is creating,

    who has come in Jesus,

       the Word made flesh,

       to reconcile and make new,

    who works in us and others

       by the Spirit.

We trust in God.

We are called to be the Church:

    to celebrate God’s presence,

    to live with respect in Creation,

    to love and serve others,

    to seek justice and resist evil,

    to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,

       our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death,

    God is with us.

We are not alone.

    Thanks be to God.                                    

Prayers of the People Angela Nutter

One:    Lord in Your Mercy

All:      Hear Our Prayers

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power,

and the glory are yours

now and for ever. Amen.

Offering    Gail Reed

Offering Prayer Let us pray . . .                                           

Creator, Holy One, Most High, Rock, Peace, Christ, Refuge, Light, Holy Friend - we call you by many names. From mystery you take on these names as you teach us and lead us in your ways . . . you connect us with peoples and cultures who know even more of your names. Open us, O God to all of your names and all of your people, that together we might praise and serve you. Amen.

Hymn: Be Thou My Vision    VU #642

1 Be thou my vision, O joy of my heart;

naught be all else to me, save that thou art,

thou my best thought, by day or by night,

waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

 

2 Be thou my wisdom, my calm in all strife;

I ever with thee, and thou in my life;

thou loving parent, thy child may I be,

thou in me dwelling, and I one with thee.

 

3 Be thou my battle shield, sword for the fight;

be thou my dignity, thou my delight,

thou my soul's shelter, thou my high tower;

raise thou my heavenward, O power of my power.

 

4 Riches I heed not, nor vain empty praise,

thou mine inheritance, now and always;

thou and thou only, first in my heart,

great God of heaven, my treasure thou art.

 

Blessing   Iona Community

If you are with another person, you’re invited to bless each other, taking every other line.

One:      The Creator’s blessing be yours on your road, on your journey,    guiding you, cherishing you.

male:     The Son’s blessing be yours, wine and water, bread and stories, feeding you, challenging you.

female: The Spirit’s blessing be yours, wind and fire, joy and wisdom,       comforting you, disturbing you.

All:        The Angel’s blessing be yours, on your house, on your living, guarding you, encouraging you. Let us walk together, a community on a journey, sustained in God’s blessing. Amen!

One:      Let us go now in peace to love and serve the Lord.

All:        Thanks be to God!